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Since its inception, jazz has been an international music, drawing deeply on influences from the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.

But its global voice never has been more pronounced than in the past 20 years, thanks to the stylistic breakthroughs of Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sanchez, Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuña and many more.Read more »

The music of Puerto Rico has played in Miguel Zenón’s imagination since his childhood in San Juan, where he was born.

But it wasn’t until a few years ago that he began to examine his musical heritage in depth, with remarkable results (and we refer not only to the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, or “genius grant,” he was awarded in 2008).Read more »

Even a decade ago, when the Chilean-born singer Claudia Acuña was launching her recording career, she sounded like nobody else in jazz. The South American sensibility that colored everything she sang, as well as the sometimes smoldering, sometimes imploring quality of her vocals made her an emerging artist of unmistakable promise.

But now, seasoned by uncounted performances around the world and the various hard knocks that inevitably come with a career in music, Acuña has matured into one of the most searing jazz vocalists of the under-40 generation. Read more »

Ad Hoc Tributes to Departed Masters always raise questions of motive. Typically the rearview mirror is not where resourceful jazz artists look for inspiration. However, a quartet of current releases illustrate why and how retrospective projects can successfully navigate inherent pitfalls and attain authenticity. Read more »

Though center stage belonged to one of jazz’s most heralded saxophonists, all eyes and ears were on the drummer, Justin Faulkner. After two decades with the band, Jeff “Tain’’ Watts - jazz’s most explosive drummer - left the Branford Marsalis Quartet this year to focus on his own projects. His replacement is Faulkner, an 18-year-old who is just starting his secondary education at the Berklee College of Music.Read more »

Combined generations of the Marsalis family will release their Music Redeems (Marsalis Music) on Aug. 24. The CD is a recording of the family’s performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., last year when patriarch Ellis Marsalis received the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Proceeds from the disc’s sales will benefit the Ellis Marsalis Center For Music In New Orleans. Read more »

All together now: I’d like to teach the world to sing — like Claudia Acuña.

Well, no, not really. Individuality counts for a lot, especially in the wide world of jazz singing. So finding a personal style is almost a duty.

The Chilean-born singer has such a style. It involves a broad reach of repertoire, songs that don’t necessarily emerge from the jazz bag, songs that don’t seem to be pulled from any particular pigeonholes. Read more »

In the music business, five years without a new CD is practically an eternity.

But radiant jazz singer Claudia Acuña has come back strong, with a startling release that — typically, for her — cuts against convention.

For starters, she sings almost entirely in Spanish on her superb new recording, “En Este Momento” (Marsalis Music), which translates to “At This Moment.” That’s clearly not a quick-and-easy way to re-establish yourself in the marketplace, concedes Acuña, who opens Thursday night at the Jazz Showcase. Read more »

Born in Santiago and raised in Concepcion, Chile, Acuña began singing Chilean folk/pop, rock, fusion and opera, drawing inspiration from Chilean music pioneers Violeta Parra and Victor Jara. At the age of 15 she discovered her first “outside” musical model: Frank Sinatra. Acuña finally “felt at home” when she heard the voices of Sinatra, Erroll Garner and Sarah Vaughan. Read more »